My Protector
by jc-1225
Summary: Casey meets someone who is willing to keep him safe. But will she be more than a protector? RR
1. The Day She Saved My Life

_Hello, I'm Casey Connor, in case you haven't already guessed. The first two weeks of the school year are even miserable for me, but I'm going to tell how it all changed._

_I walked into class and I heard there was a new student. I didn't catch her name because Zeke threw me against the wall and sat in his seat. So she walked over to me. She was pretty. Her hair was a long dark brown almost black color. And she was of medium height. And she wasn't fat at all. She crouched down in her long black skirt, which most girls wouldn't do no matter what they were wearing._

"_Oh, are you alright? Let me help you. I'm Rose," she said helping me up._

"_Casey," I said still in pain. She could sense it in my voice._

"_Sit down, Mr. Connor," the teacher told me._

"_Well, he's a real witch and I've only been here less than five minutes," she whispered. "You're cute, I like your eyes."_

"_Thanks I guess," I replied. We both walked to our seat. Mr. Kay walked over to me._

"_Casey, there's something I noticed about you. You're always letting people push you to the ground," he said._

_Then someone shouted, it was probably Zeke, "No, he's just weak!" And he was right, I was._

_Rose sat behind me, "I'll protect you, Casey." She smiled._


	2. The Attack and The Plan

"_Miz Delwood," Mr. Kay said._

"_Yes," Rose answered. _

"_Shut up."_

"_Okay, gosh!" She said only loud enough to where I could hear. I laughed._

_She sat with me at lunch. We talked. And I told her about the alien incident I was trying to forget. She seemed so amazed at my stories. The bell rang. Now I was headed to the one class I didn't have with Rose…P.E._

_I entered the locker room. I was pushed into the wall again. "Where's your girlfriend when you need her? Huh?" I couldn't tell who it was. I think it may have been Stan but I couldn't tell. My vision was blurry. I saw something raise and then everything went black._

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………

_Rose pulled me up. "Rose, what are you….what are you doing here?"_

_She put a finger to her lips. "Don't speak. You're in the nurse's office. I was asked to look after you. Stan said you had a nose bleed and passed out on the floor."_

"_So it was Stan!" I said sitting up slightly._

"_Lay back down, you need your rest." She said still sitting by my side. "How do you feel?"_

"_Warm," I said laying back down. "Could you check my temperature?"_

"_Well, the nurse just went to get another thermometer, Stokely dropped the other one. But…" Rose kissed my forehead. "Yep, you're warm, you gotta fever. We might have to send you home."_

_I sat up quickly this time. She pushed me back down. "No, I can't go home. Mom'll kill me if she finds out I'm sick." My tone changed, "I can't be with my mother."_

"_Is it one of those Dave Pelzer issues?"_

"_Something like that," I told her._

"_If you ask your mom maybe you could come to my house and I could take care of you for tonight but you can't tell her that because then she'll think that I'm…ew I don't wanna think about it…so maybe you could tell her that you are going to a parentally supervised party and then you could like fall asleep on the couch or something and I could call her and say that you're going to stay overnight…?" Rose suggested._

_I thought a moment to recalculate what she said. "Or I could just tell her that I'm spending the night at a friend's house…Do you have a brother?"_

"_Yeah, his name's Joey, he's seventeen."_

"_Perfect." I had my plan all in order and now all I needed to do was tell my mom._

"_And if anyone asks…you don't have a fever," she said slyly. She watched as a guy walked by the office. "Hey Joey!"_

"_I told you, don't call me Joey!" the guy replied. It was obviously her brother._

"_I'm sorry, Joseph," She rolled her eyes. "Oh, by the way, we have a guest tonight. Joseph," she rolled her eyes while saying his name again. "This," she pointed to me, "is Casey. We," she emphasized. "are going to take care of him. He's sick, his mom has problems." Joey showed a look of understanding as he nodded and walked away. _


	3. Secrets and Twisted Words

_We walked home; just Joey, Rose, and I. Mom was okay with me staying; I think she may have been drunk. _

_When we got to their house, apparently either no one was home or they are the only ones that live there. We walked inside. The house was pretty nice –and that's a word I'm not generally comfortable with. Rose had me lay on the couch._

"_Would you like anything?" she asked. I shook my head. She smiled and bent down to kiss my cheek. "I hope you feel better."_

_I smiled. "Me too." If only I felt better. Then, then, I would…..um…..never mind. I got so wrapped up in my thoughts of Rose I fell asleep._

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………

_I awoke to the sound of her voice. "Come on, Joey."_

"_I told you no, Rose," Joey replied. "I already said that if Mom were still around you wouldn't even have this chance. How do I even know that I can trust you?"_

"_You don't trust me!" she gaped. She held her head in her hands. "Oh my gosh, Joe."_

"_Don't call me Joe! You know Dad used to call me that!" He started to cry._

"_I know, I miss him too." I listened and pretended to sleep. I opened my eyes a little while after. "Oh, um, you're awake? Did you…hear all that?" Rose looked a little nervous._

_I nodded. "Yeah. I'm feeling better," I said trying to cheer her up. Joey had stopped crying. "Dude, I'm sorry about your parents. Um, if you don't mind me asking, what...happened to them?" I raised up the left side of my face._

"_C-can we tell him Joseph? Please?" Rose asked her brother._

"_No, you can't tell him and he can't sleep in your room!" There was a sudden voice change in Joey. He groaned, "Awe, Rose, now you're makin' me cry!" He ran into his room. Rose rolled her eyes. _

_Later, after Joey was asleep, Rose snuck out to the living room with a pillow and blanket. "So, when you said, 'better,' how much better?" she asked._

"_A lot better," I said as I scooted to the floor and hugged her. She smiled and kissed my cheek. I turned and kissed her lips. "Um, so why did you decide to move to the living room?"_

"_Well," Rose started, "my brother said that you couldn't sleep in my room, so, I decided to come into the living room with you." She smiled again. "And, I'm gonna tell you," Rose paused and looked around to be sure Joseph wasn't around. "our secret." She raised her right eyebrow and squinted her eye. Rose bit her lip. "Okay, my mom died when I was six. She was murdered. And then my dad…went crazy and committed suicide," she bit her fingernails. _

"_Oh, wow," I had trouble speaking._

**I know Casey's character might be a little OOC but I don't really care anyway…I mean, at least I tried…right?**


	4. Kiss

_In the morning, I lay on the couch and her on the other side. We lay there staring into each others eyes and talking. I can't remember what we talked about, but I remember her eyes. They were prettier than I'd ever seen before. _

_Joey walked through the living room and into the kitchen. "Rose, what did I tell you?"_

"_You told me that he couldn't sleep in my room. You never said I couldn't sleep out here. Besides, we didn't do anything." Joey didn't believe her._

"_We didn't do anything I swear!" I said backing her up._

"_Whatever you say, Casey," Joey stated as a sign that he didn't believe me either. "You guys better hurry up and get ready for school." We totally forgot about school! We hurried to get ready. When we finished, we had five minutes left to eat breakfast. But instead of eating, we talked some more._

_We walked to school, talking the whole way. Joseph walked far ahead of us. Apparently he didn't want to be seen with us. Rose and I didn't care though._

_We stopped right before we got to school. I stared into her eyes; she stared into mine. I'd been waiting for the perfect time to kiss her ever since I'd felt better. We both pulled close. And for the first time in my life, the rest of the world seemed to stand perfectly still. But it didn't matter about the world around me. All I cared about was Rose Delwood._


	5. Studying Sucks

"_Hey, um, Casey," Ms. Drake approached me. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"_

"_Yeah, sure, Ms. Drake. What is it?"_

"_It's about your grades, Casey," she answered._

"_What about them?"_

"_Well, I've talked with some of your teachers and we've decided that maybe you should start studying with Zeke Tyler. Zeke said that he'd be happy to tutor you. You should go talk to him about it."_

"_But can't I just study with Rose?" I asked hoping she would say yes._

"_Rose Delwood? Isn't she a new student? But she may not know everything that you've been taught. Zeke has been here longer. Just try with Zeke and if it doesn't work than come talk to me, okay?"_

"_Yeah, sure, Ms. Drake." I walked out of the classroom where Rose was waiting for me. _

"_What did she want?" she asked._

"_She wanted me to tutor with Zeke."_

"_Isn't that the guy that pushed you into the wall?" Rose asked. I nodded. "I don't know, Casey. I don't think that's a good idea."_

"_I know it isn't. I tried to talk her out of it but I lost that battle."_

"_So don't do it," she suggested._

"_But that's Ms. Drake. I can't just not do it."_

"_Whatever, I can't help you then. Sorry buddy." Rose walked away. The bell was about to ring._


	6. LAST CHAPTER

"I protect him as if my life depends upon him, as if without him I would die. I know without him I die spiritually but not physically. The world may not end if he leaves me, but my world would come to an end, would come to a complete stop. And if no one was there to shoot me, I'd do it myself."

Her words were clear, tears welled in my eyes as I heard these words; I knew exactly who she was talking about. We looked at each other in pure silence, for no words needed to be said. She was beautiful that day, standing there smiling; whether the others could see it or not, she was truly one of a kind.

"Uh, thank you, Rose you can sit down now," the teacher stated after a long period of time.

As high school drew closer to an end, I knew exactly what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. I had been right to make those choices. I knew that Delilah Profitt couldn't have ever given any of this to me. And the day Rose Elizabeth Delwood said yes, and the days I spent with her, are and always will be, the best moments of my life.

I sensed the danger in her eyes, the eyes of darkness, but of all that is good, all that is…..love. Day like this seemed to last forever, when all we could do was love each other for who we are. A never ending, unfailing love may start with a simple kiss, a simple kiss that may mean nothing, may turn into something and happily ever afters do come true.


End file.
